ASSOCIATIVE INTERFERENCE IN PAIRED-ASSOCIATE LEARNING OF MIDDLE-AGED AND OLD SUBJECTS

Compared 20 middle-aged and 20 old patients for effects of interference on rote learning. At each age level, 1 group was tested on a paired-associate list high in response competition and 1 low in response competition. Interference was induced by re-pairing stimulus-response associates demonstrated to have a high relationship on work frequency count norms. An Age * Interference interaction was found with the elderly making significantly more errors in performance than the middle aged. Age and interference also affected backward response-stimulus recall to some degree. The elderly showed greater deficit in this form of incidental learning, especially when the intentional phase had high response competition as the experimental variable. The increased difficulty of the interference lists offers alternative hypotheses to interference theory as to the basis for such poor performance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved). © 1969 American Psychological Association.